Utter Ignorance: ‘Two Guyanas’ myth busted

Dear Editor,
Joshua Faria’s Jan 06, 2023 letter, “Two Guyanas: Enmore Martyrs vs Linden Martyrs”, reflects mass ignorance. The letter is as silly as can be, and I quickly want to ‘clear the air’ on the issues that this ‘Faria’ fellow ignorantly touched on.
First, he mentions that “in 2012, under the PPP Government (People’s Progressive Party), the Guyana Police shot and killed three persons in a protest in Linden against an unconscionable 50% hike in electricity rates.”
Fact: The Lensley Wolfe Commission of Inquiry into the Linden Shooting clearly ruled that even though the “Cops were responsible for the Linden deaths (those of Ron Somerset, Shemroy Bouyea and Allan Lewis), there was ‘no clear intention to kill.’ In fact, the esteemed body explained that “…in the circumstances, the discharge of ammunition was justified, as the Police were confronted by a hostile crowd and had no clear intention to kill or injure anyone… (as the) apparent intention was to scare the protestors into removing from the Bridge.”
The Report also found that “…the organisers must accept some responsibility for what transpired, since blocking of the Bridge was unlawful and unconstitutional.” As such, the Commissioners hoped that the “Organisers of, and participants in, the demonstrations will agree that obedience to the law in carrying out justifiable demonstrations can enhance their cause amongst well-thinking members of the society, whilst behaviour that is chaotic can cause mayhem, death, injury and alienate empathisers.”
In fact, I do challenge Faria to revisit how the then Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, was unfairly castigated for being the ‘Architect of Execution’ in the killings, only to be vindicated by the inquiry, which was independent and elaborate.
Fact again: This talk of the supposed “…unconscionable 50% hike in electricity rates” that was PPP-engendered needs elucidation. I remind Faria that going all the way back to 1976, the late Forbes Burnham recognised that the provision of electricity in Linden should be examined with the intention to integrate all of Linden into the national grid, simply because the full subsidy that Lindeners were unfairly enjoying over the years had become unsustainable (and still is).
So, the gist of the issue at that time was that the Donald Ramotar Administration, in congruence with a Burnham initiative, hovered around the rightful, fair and ethical proposal “…to find the best approach to bring Linden, over a specified time, to the same rates as the rest of the country.”
Let me jam this in: Why must the rest of the country shoulder Linden’s power bill? Thus, even when it was the right thing to do, the Ramotar Government never tried to remove the entire subsidy at one go; they were simply seeking to put a system in place to gradually incorporate Linden with the rest of the country with respect to electricity rates.
Also, the proposal was to have the new rates for Lindeners to average about half of what others were paying in Bartica, Berbice and Essequibo.
Digest this please: Up to the point of 2011, the $2.6B of electricity subsidy to Linden translated to around $17,000 per month per household. This means that about 4,000 to 5,000 domestic consumers in Linden receive a subsidy of $204,000 per year each. Who else was and is getting this?
Let me wrap up and hope that the Farias will summon up some candour when commenting on issues. You see, to protest, like the Enmore Martyrs and company, for national goodwill for sugar workers, irrespective of clime and colour, is quite different from creating havoc for unfair privileges at tight expense of others. I mean, this was the reality then, and it still obtains, as the average consumption of power in Linden at the domestic level is two to three times more than what it is in other parts of the grid.

Yours truly,
H Singh